


she's a lady, and i am just a line without a hook

by knockoffjugheadjones



Series: there is a light that never goes out [1]
Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: F/F, i was bored and there aren't many flaritza fics out there sooooo, idk what else to tag, just a little snack for all of my fellow flaritza shippers out there :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:53:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28241199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knockoffjugheadjones/pseuds/knockoffjugheadjones
Summary: The young inmate was resting on her side, facing the dirty, grey-colored wall in her isolation cell. It seemed like just a few hours ago she was happily chatting away with her best friend, Maritza. Now, she was here.
Relationships: Marisol "Flaca" Gonzales/Maritza Ramos
Series: there is a light that never goes out [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121492
Comments: 13
Kudos: 7





	1. how did i get here?

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what to put here since this is my first ever story on AO3. Just enjoy the chapter and maybe, if you like it enough, leave a nice comment or a kudos. :)

How the fuck did I end up here?

The young inmate was resting on her side, facing the dirty, grey-colored wall in her isolation cell. It seemed like just a few hours ago she was happily chatting away with her best friend, Maritza. Now, she was in here.

In actuality, she'd been chatting with her friend about two days ago. They'd been gossiping about Ruiz's new personality when Humps had called the other girl out for van duty.

At the time, she thought nothing of it. After all, it was just a stupid job. At least, that's what she thought.

When Maritza had come back hours later, trembling as she climbed into her bunk, Flaca had begun to think more of it.

The guard she was always driving with was that hillbilly, Coates, but, while most times the two would drive alone together, it wasn't uncommon for some of the other male guards to tag along on the drive. One of those other guards was CO Humphrey.

On the outside, Humps looked like any average white guy you'd come across in a normal setting. Short, brown hair. Average build. Around 6"2. He didn't seem to pose a threat.

But, when you got to spend time around him for a while, you'd find out that the guy was seriously fucked up.

He admired things that you would never expect in any normal person like medieval torture methods, or toads, or cockroaches.

But, even with all of his weird interests, he seemed to be a nice enough guy.

When you factor in his weird obsession with Maritza, however, the "nice guy" front crumbles quite a bit.

Every lunch, Humps would walk up to the kitchen where the crew was preparing the meals and just...stare at the girl. Other times, he would walk up to the table where Flaca and Maritza were usually sitting during mealtime and stare some more.

Sometimes on those occasions where the two girls weren't forced to eat their breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the kitchen to make more time for making food, the quiet CO would butt into their conversations, calling Maritza a "mysterious princesa", or what have you. 

On those not-so-rare occasions, Flaca would try and cheer her friend up after the weird encounters, since she would always look so pale and tense afterward. She now curses herself constantly for not doing more.

It was only on movie night that she fully understood why Maritza had been so quiet and anxious for the last few days.

She'd been in her bed, curled up in a ball. Her small frame was shaking with some sort of emotion that she couldn't figure out.

"It's movie night. Let's go."

"I don't wanna go. I'm too bloated."

"We're on the same cycle, dummy."

God, she wishes she'd done more. She wishes she could've saved her from that nasty CO. She wishes, she wishes, she wishes.

But, in the end, what's done is done. There was nothing she could've done to save Maritza.

She was just so infuriated. How could anyone do this to another human being?

How could someone put a gun to another's head and force them to choose between having to eat ten dead flies or a fucking baby mouse?

It wasn't her fault that it happened to Maritza, but it was her fault that she was all alone up the hill while she was stuck in the SHU.

Flaca hates herself more for leaving her best friend alone than she does for not stopping what happened. If she was there in minimum with her, she could've been able to help her try and get out of van duty so nothing like that ever happened to her again, but she could do nothing here.

When she looks back on the things she did to get revenge for what Humps did, she realizes that it wasn't worth the consequence she got and the even bigger consequences that Maritza could be facing.

That is why she stares at the grey walls in her cell in SHU and thinks, Oh, yeah. That's how I got here...

How many days have passed?

Maybe four.

When did I get thrown in here?

Around Tuesday night.

Shit, it's Saturday. Maritza has van duty Saturdays.

Well, nothing I can do now that I got my dumb ass thrown in SHU.

"Fuck."


	2. avenge her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's kind of weird that I'm uploading another chapter this early, but I really just couldn't wait. There are more words here and we get a Flaca/Humps encounter. Spoiler: she does not like him! Anyway, hope you enjoy this next chapter. <3

"It was small and slippery and not like a jellybean at all, Flaca."  
...

She can't necessarily explain how she felt when she finally understood what Maritza was trying to say. Rage, perhaps? Anger, most definitely. All she can say was that saw red when she spotted Humps the next day.

He had his fingers in his belt loops, sticking his waist out slightly in a position that made him look even more like the bastard he was.

Flaca couldn't believe that he was allowed to work here. She couldn't understand why Caputo didn't do background checks for the new guards he'd hired. Not like they would even help.

Still, she was enraged at the fact that such an evil monster as himself was allowed to walk the streets freely, and wasn't rotting away in a maximum-security prison.

This fucking asshole, she thought to herself as she was serving the food for breakfast. She'd ended up doing both Maritza's and her shifts so the other girl could have time to herself after what'd happened to her.

Sure, it sucked that she'd have no time to eat breakfast herself because of the double shifts, but it was worth it to keep Maritza happy and stable for the day.

Van duty was only two days away, so she'd have to construct an excuse with Maritza to get her out of it. Maybe they could pretend she had the flu or some other illness that can usually get you out of stuff.

Humps glanced at the food counter and seemed a bit surprised after a few seconds. He was probably looking to see if Maritza was there. Fucking creep.

He stalked slowly towards the kitchen crew, turned to Flaca.

Aw, shit. The weirdo is probably gonna ask about Maritza. I gotta think of something, Flaca thought while simultaneously serving food to the other inmates.

The CO walked around the counter and pointed to Flaca for a short second.

"You, tall taco."

She reluctantly turned her head to the man.

"Yes?"

"Where's, uh, your little jalapeño pepper of a friend?" the guard chuckled, flashing a fake smile.

Think fast.

"Uh, she's got a nasty bug."

He stared quizically. 

"Really?"

"Yep. Gives you major stomach aches."

"Well, uh, tell her to come back to her next shift. We need to get this sad excuse for food out to all the inmates, and that's not going to happen if someone's out with a 'bug.'" He used air quotations for the word bug.

Shit, what if he doesn't believe me?

"A-Alright. I'll tell her."

"Good." His eyes shifted around the room for a moment before he started striding off again. "Get back to work, inmate."

Flaca let out a sigh of relief after he left. The made-up bug excuse had worked, for now. Pretty soon, she was going to have to come up with something else to keep him away from Maritza.

Not long after, breakfast ended. Swiftly, she hung up her apron and hairnet to get to the dorms as quickly as possible, but Gloria grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Ay, what's the matter with you? You've been jittery all morning."

"It's just cold."

"It's only 72 degrees. How are you cold?"

I don't have time for more goddamn questions.

"Gotta go, see ya!" Flaca said over her shoulder, rushing to C Dorm.

...

When she reached Maritza's bunk, she noticed that the other girl was in the same position she was in when she woke up. 

"Yo. Come on, I know you're all traumatized and shit, but you still gotta get up. I had to make up a whole story about you being sick to get Humps off my back."

"I don't want to get up today. It's just too much."

Flaca sighed. She felt bad for Maritza, but she didn't want to spend the day lying about where the girl was.

"I know, I know. But, I got some laxatives from the commissary so you can get that mouse carcass out of your body."

The girl laughed for the first time in hours. 

"Ewww, no way. I don't wanna spend the whole day in the bathrooms."

"Well, it's either you spend the day in the bathroom shitting that mouse out, or you spend the day in the bathroom with your head in the toilet throwing that shit up."

She laughed harder this time. Flaca laughed, too. It was the first time they felt like everything was alright again.

"Seriously, we gotta get that fucker out, or you'll probably get the platonic plague."

Maritza looked at her funny.

"You mean the bubonic plague?"

Flaca scoffed, "It's the same shit."

After a couple more minutes of convincing (and a promise to get her Skittles from the commissary after), Maritza finally got out of bed.

"What was Humps on your ass for? Did he ask about me?" the other inmate asked, a worried look on her face.

"Yeah." Her eyes widened. "But, don't worry. I made up some shit about you being sick with a bug, and he totally bought it," she smiled proudly, silently giving herself kudos for her quick thinking.

"Well, what are we gonna do? You can't keep making excuses for me."

"Well, maybe I can."

"No, you can't. I don't wanna put you through that," she said softly.

Flaca sighed. The girl continued," I was thinking before you came. Maybe we could report him. You know, talk to Caputo and get him fired?"

"Are you kidding? That's the dumbest plan ever. Piscatella won't let any of us within 10 feet of the guy. And we have no proof."

Maritza put her head down in despair. "I don't know, maybe we could ask around. See if he's done anything to anyone else?"

It wasn't the worst plan, but it needed more thought. "Okay, so say we do find some other girls that he's done things to. How are we gonna get to Caputo?"

The other girl's head whipped around. "We could do a spy mission! Like Mission Impossible!"

Flaca chuckled at her friend's enthusiasm. She always loved how much energy she had.

"A spy mission?"

"Yeah! We could hum the theme music while we're sneaking into his office and everything!"

"When would we do that? You know he leaves at night, right? He's not here all the time like the rest of us."

Maritza sat up more. "Okay, I was thought we could sneak in at around dinner because all the guards are in the cafeteria then. Once we get into his office with the other girls, we report that bastard, Humps, and his reign of terror ends."

Is she serious?

"No offense, Mari, but this is kinda the worst idea I've ever heard in my life."

The girl's brow furrowed in annoyance. "Well, do you have a better idea?"

She nodded, "Good point."

For most of the day, the two sat in the bunks, conspiring how to take down Humps. By the end of the day, they had an almost near realistic way to report him.

It would take a while, but they were going to end that motherfucker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have much to say except thank you for reading this far, and thanks for all the hits! The next chapter will be uploaded sometime tomorrow, so, if you'd like, bookmark this story to see the next update.


	3. over and over and over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry <3

Operation: Fire Humps was working out smoothly. The two girls managed to come up with a decent outline for a plan and were now figuring out how to execute it properly.

"Alright, I talked to some other girls from the ghetto and the suburbs. Four of the A Dorm girls came out and said that he'd done some shit to them, and two B Dorm girls said they'd had encounters with him," Maritza gushed. She'd been almost too excited for this plan since they'd thought of it, her eyes always sparkling when she talked about how she planned to celebrate when Humps was finally fired.

Flaca, on the other hand, had been on edge since they'd starting seriously considering going through with the plan, scared that everything that could go wrong would and the two would end up going to max. Maritza had been her emotional support through the whole thing.

"That's great, but we can't sneak all of them into Caputo's office. We'll have to find some way to get their statements on recording or something." The other girl's eyes lit up again. "Don't worry, I came prepared." She pulled a small recording device out of her pillowcase.

Flaca scoffed, "Where'd you find that?" "I've been hiding it in hidden spots all over the prison for a while. I was using it to record my memoirs for when I get out, but this is more important." She gave Flaca the small recording device and grinned. "Guess we have only one more thing to check off our list now." "Oh my god, this is really happening." Maritza rolled her eyes at that. "Of course it's happening, dummy. We can't let Humps do to anyone else what he did to me."

Flaca nodded. She understood why Maritza was so set on getting this guy fired, but she was just so scared. What if Piscatella caught them on their way to Caputo's office? What if he found out they were trying to get a CO fired and sent them down the hill? What if they ended up never seeing each other again?

"Yo, Flac."

She was brought out of her entranced state.

"Huh, what?"

"I said, we gotta make a distraction to get out of kitchen duty at dinner. We can't give the recordings to Caputo if we're stuck serving slop."

"Oh, yeah..."

"So, what do you have in mind?"

...

A few hours later, Humps called Maritza over.

Flaca was hesitant to let her leave her sight but agreed to let her go, anyway.

When she walked back over to Flaca, she looked as though she'd been crying. She didn't fully grasp what had happened to her until she expalined.

"Mari, what happened?"

"H-he said that he kn-knew that I was planning something, a-and that...that if I told anyone what happened at h-his house, he would kill me."

He would kill me.

He would kill me.

He would kill me.

The words repeated in her mind over and over and over until it made her vision foggy and caused her mind to go blank. She didn't register what was happening until she was being pulled off of Humps, whose face was bruised and bloody, by two male COs.

She didn't realize what she did until she was being put into a van and taken down the hill to SHU.

That's when she finally understood and the memories came flooding back in.

Maritza had been tellin her about what Humps said to her when she suddenly got up from the bed and stormed straight over to the lanky CO. 

"What do you want, inma-" he didn't get the chance to finish his sentence before she was hitting his face with her fist over and over and over and over and...

Maritza had been following behind her, witnessing the whole thing. She yelled for her to stop to no avail.

It took two, big male guards to pull her off of Humps.

As Flaca sat in the back of the police van, she reflected on the whole incident. How Maritza must've felt now, knowing that her best friend and half of her whole revenge plan was gone.

Who knows how long she'd be staying in SHU. 

A week.

A month.

A year.

A decade.

Her whole sentence.

Didn't matter now. She had no way to escape. No way to get out of this. 

What the actual fuck was I thinking?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't be mad at me :(


	4. stare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Christmas Eve, peeps! A treat for you before I go on break during Christmas Day. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!!   
> 🎅💖💕

If you've ever thought you could survive isolation, you can't.

There was no form of entertainment. No way to interact with other people. Just nothing.

Flaca's only way of not being bored to death was her own imagination. She thought of numerous things during her time in SHU. 

She imagined ways she could get out of that horrible place, although she knew it was near impossible to escape. She thought of her friends and how much they meant to her. She thought of what she would do to Humps when- if she got out of isolation. She thought of the earful she would get from Gloria for missing so much work. She thought of that and so much more.

Once in a while, a magazine would be slipped under her door by the max inmate who would do cleaning duty once a week. Was it even once a week? Who knew in here.

You probably still don't know how horrible it was to be in isolation for the time she was in there. 

It was excruciatingly boring.

Sometimes, when things got really bad, she would talk to herself. It felt nice to pretend that someone was listening to what she had to say. Mostly, she would talk about Maritza and how much value their friendship had to her. She'd often converse with herself about the little things she liked about Maritza like the way she did her liner and other things that she would never talk about in public.

Flaca didn't know why it embarrassed her so much to talk about these things she admired about her friend. They'd been best friends for longer than she could remember, so why on Earth did it bother her so much?

On days where the hours seemed like days and she couldn't get any sleep in, she would chip the paint on the door. It provided the tiniest form of entertainment so she could have a little bit of fun in this eternal boredom that was Seg.

Now and then, another inmate would slip a note under her door with a pen. Those lucky days, she'd happily converse with the others about anything and everything. She'd been so starved for human contact that a simple "hello" from the grate would be invigoratingly exciting.

Her first day in SHU, the person across from her struck up a conversation. The guards never checked on the inmates unless it was meal time, so there was plenty of room for talking to the mysterious neighbor. 

The other woman talked to Flaca about her life outside of Litchfield. She had two kids and a boyfriend who she was excited to see after she got out. The kids were two boys, three and twelve years old. The said boyfriend was working three jobs to support them for school, rent, and other expenses. He seemed like an amazing dad.

After a while, the woman stopped talking.

She didn't know why. Maybe she got out? Maybe she just didn't have the energy to speak anymore. The meals they were given were fairly meager. There was one possibility that stuck out more than any others. Maybe she'd killed herself.

Having no one to talk to after that was tough, to say the least.

She'd spend days just staring up at the ceiling, wondering how everyone else was doing. She felt disillusioned with herself in a way that she never thought she would.

Hours on end, she'd lay on the floor, hoping for a voice. Hoping for something other than grey walls and flourescent lights looking back at her.

You can imagine how thrilled she was when the doors finally opened.

"Gonzalez, come on. You're getting out."

"Wait, really?"

The guard at the door showed an aggravated expression.

"Does it look like I'm joking? Move it, inmate," he said, dragging her off the bed by her arm.

The drive back up the hill was a long one, but she was relieved to look out the window and see the outdoors. Flaca hadn't seen anything but the isolation room in a long time.

When the van finally stopped and the doors opened, she hurriedly headed out the doors, hoping to get back to her dorm as quickly as possible.

"Woah, woah, woah. Not so fast, poochie," the guard from earlier held her back by her arm. 

Two COs escorted her back to minimum, watching her every move. Surely, they'd heard about her beating up a guard and were now taking every precaution to stop her from doing anything similar. If they'd only known just why she did it.

Finally, they reached the double doors.

"Alright, inmate, you're home sweet home."

She walked into the building hurriedly. She'd been hoping to get back to Maritza and apologize for what she'd done. But, the other girl beat her to the punch.

Not five feet in the building, a small figure wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you're back!"

The figure pulled back and studied her face.

"Damn, when's the last time you took off your makeup? You look like shit."

She laughed at that. It felt amazing to finally be back where she could see things other than cold, grey walls. Where she could hear voices other than her own.

A hand pulled at her own, dragging her away from the spot she was stuck to.

"Come on! We need to go tell everyone you're back!"

Goddamn, did it feel good to be home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! 🎁✨


	5. run from me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's back, back again. here to deliver some good flaritza content to you guys! also, i figured out how to use rich text on chapters instead on html. this one is a little longer than the other ones and also from maritza's pov. btw, all of the events in this chapter are happening during the month that flaca spent in the shu. anyway, hope you enjoy! ❤❤❤

_ "You think you're so fucking smart, huh? Talking with your little girlfriend about how to get rid of me. Well, guess what, sweetie, not gonna happen. If you dare tell  _ **_ anyone _ ** _ about what happened, I will kill you." _

**... **

The conversation repeated in her mind like a broken record. Playing over and over and over until it was engraved into her memory. Maritza couldn't get it out of her head if she tried. 

Flaca was in the SHU (or worse, Max), so she didn't have anyone except for Gloria and a couple of the other girls to help her out.

Maria, being pissed at her, had used Flaca's disappearance to try and get her back into her weird-ass panty business.

_ "Now that that tall emo freak got shipped off to SHU, you have no one to protect you. Might wanna reconsider leaving the business." _

She didn't give a damn what Ruiz said, though. For all she knew, she'd have a new version of herself in a week or so. Gloria helped her out a lot during Flac's absence. She'd always give her extra food during meal times or shifts off. She was the only one who truly understood how much losing her best friend impacted her.

Even though times were tough with the COs on her ass about Flaca beating the shit out of Humps she stuck to the plan. During one of the dinner shifts, she snuck to Caputo's office with the voice recording in her pocket. Right when she turned the corner, though, she got a face full of Pisctella.

"Ramos, what the hell do you think you're doing, sneaking around the halls instead of serving food?"

"Uh, I-I was just-"

"Alright, you're coming with me. Caputo will  _ love _ to hear about this."

_ Yes, the plan still worked out. Oh, Flac, if only you could see me now. _

The ogre of a guard sat her down in a chair in Caputo's office, whispering something in his ear. The warden sighed and waved him away.

"Maritza Ramos, is it?"

"Mmhm."

"What did you happen to be doing sneaking around the halls during your kitchen duty?"

She slowly took the recording device out of her shirt pocket and slid it onto his desk.

"I have proof that CO Humps has been harassing multiple women, including myself. All of their statements are here on this tape recorder."

The balding man examined the small object, twirling it around in his hand slowly.

"You do realize that, if this turns out to be untrue, you and all the women on these...recordings will face serious consequences, right?"

"Yes, sir," she replied.

_ Wow, this is the most formal I've ever been in my life. I sound like one of those detectives on Criminal Minds. _

"Alright, let's hear it, then."

He pressed the play button and listened to all of the horrendous things Humps had done to these different women. The full tape was only about twenty minutes, but it took thirty-seven to finish it all with his questions about the different inmates she'd interviewed.

_ "I was in the bathroom, changing, alone, and Humps came up to me and started whispering really inappropriate stuff in my ear. Like, sexual stuff. I got out of there, but I was still really scared to be around him after that." _

_ "He made me and some random girl I'd never seen to kiss in the supply closet with just him and some other CO watching us. They were both saying real nasty stuff while we were doing it." _

_ "I saw him and some other guards make Crazy Eyes and that weird hippie girl fight each other. The weird one almost got herself killed." _

_ "He groped me while doing a pat-down. He's done it to some of my friends, too." _

_ "He just...walked over to me while I was sitting alone in my dorm and pressed himself against me. I don't know what he was trying to do, but he kept pushing his body on me for a good fifteen minutes before walking away, laughing." _

_ "CO Humps made me go into his house in the woods while I was on van duty while the other guards were playing video games in the other room. He pointed a..a gun to my head and forced me to eat an alive rodent. When I was trying to figure out how to tell someone, he pulled me aside and said he would kill me if I ever recalled the event to anyone else." _

Hearing her voice on that tape, retelling the story almost made her burst into tears. She'd been so afraid of what would happen to her if she told anybody else about what he did, that she couldn't even bear the thought of telling it on a recording.

_ God, Flaca, I wish you were here right now. _

When the tape finally stopped, Mr. Caputo leaned back in his rolly chair and sighed.

"I had no idea the COs were doing this."

"It's been going on for a while now. They keep bothering us and being real creepy and shit."

"Ay, watch the language." The man took the device in his hands and shoved it into his desk drawer.

"I'll talk to Humps and Piscatella, see what I can do to make this stop. Best case scenario, Humps gets fired, and Piscatella finally gets his shit together."

Maritza's eyes gleamed with excitement and hope. A wide smile spread across her face.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Caputo. I can't tell you how grateful I am."

"Alright, alright get back to your bunk and get some rest," he replied, smiling slightly. The almost-smile turned into a half-grin as she stood up from her chair and went back to her dorm.

"Flac, you would be so proud of me. I really wish you were here and not stuck in SHU. I did it. I told Caputo all about what Humps did. I think we really have a chance to get him fired."

She tucked herself into bed and fell asleep thinking about her best friend and how happy she would've been for her. She imagined Flaca wrapping her arms around her in the biggest hug ever and hyping her up.

_ "You did it _ ,  _ chiquita. You got your justice." _

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm still figuring out what my update schedule is going to be once i get back in school, so stay posted for when i do decide. happy sunday! ❤❤❤


	6. in the muddy waters, we're falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit's about to go down. >;) (this one's suuuper long, btw. it's like 1,000+)

_ "Yo, Flaca's out of SHU." _

_ "Didn't she beat up a guard? That bitch is crazy." _

_ "Nah, she's badass. Guard had it coming." _

_ "I didn't know the emo freak had it in her." _

**... **

There was a lot of buzz when Flaca finally got out of Seg. Everyone had heard what she'd done in different versions. When she asked around, she heard multiple stories of how she did it and why and when.

_ "I heard that she beat up three big guards just because they looked at her funny." _

_ "Someone told me that Humps was making moves on that one girl she hangs out with all the time and she freaked out. Maybe she's a lesbo." _

_ "Zirconia told me that Pidge told her that Ruiz said that Ouija heard that that one lanky emo chick got her ass sent to Seg for almost killing a CO." _

For every story she heard, a different piece of false information was added. She wanted to scream and shout that she didn't do anything wrong and that Humps was an evil person. 

The only people who didn't have any weird rumors to spread about Flaca were her friends. Maritza had been with her during all the struggles she went through.

It was bad enough that she had to spend a full month in the SHU, but now she had to spend her days watching out for COs that might spit in her food or give her shots for nonsense like running in the hallways as if she was a noisy fourth-grader and they were teachers.

Blanca and Gloria had also helped her out in their own way. Gloria was always looking out to make sure she wasn't around any guards, and Blanca almost always checked her food to make sure there was nothing in there.

She did what she could to stay out of trouble, and, most of the time, it worked. 

Most of the time.

**... **

"What do you mean, Blanca's being punished? She didn't do nothing wrong!"

Gloria sighed and picked up the next box of supplies.

"I meant exactly what I said. They're making Flores stand on a table like a dog that peed on the floor."

Flaca fumed. The COs were monsters. Blanca might've smelled a little ripe, but that was no reason to torture her like this.

She tried her best to stay out of trouble, but this was too much.

**... **

"Anyone who gives Flores anything to drink or eat will be severely punished!" Piscatella yelled, holding up the carton of milk she'd been trying to give Blanca without anyone seeing.

"Get back in your seat, Gonzalez. And don't even think about trying anything else, or else it's back to Seg for you." 

She stormed back to her table where Maritza was waiting with worried eyes.

"What the hell, Flac? I thought you said you were gonna stay out of trouble so you wouldn't get thrown back in SHU."

She scoffed. Did Maritza really expect her to just sit and watch as Blanca was being treated like this?

"I'm trying. But, you can't just expect me to sit back and relax as these piece of shit guards are treating Flores like this. I don't want to go back to SHU, but I also don't want anyone to go through anything like what you went through."

The other girl looked at her with a strange look in her eye. Like she was seeing something in Flaca that she didn't see before.

Before she could say anything, the sound of Piscatella dragging a groggy inmate across the room caught everyone's attention.

When Flaca got a closer look, she saw it was Red who was being forcefully taken in his grip. 

"Listen up!"

Now, everyone's eyes were on the beefy guard. Whispers circulated around the cafeteria. 

"What's he doing?"

"Is that Red?"

"The fuck is going on?"

He turned his head around to gaze at all of the inmates with disgust. No one knew why he hated them so much. It seemed irrational, really, to have that much hate in your heart for no reason.

"Things have been pretty lax around here, if you ask me."

The kitchen crew came out from behind the counters, probably wondering the same thing she was wondering.

_ What is he on about? _

"So lax, in fact, that one of my men was murdered on prison property by one of you. I think everyone around here forgot the only thing that matters. You're criminals, and you deserve nothing. And if I have to make an example out of each and every one of you to get this place back in order..."

Again, he looked around to make sure he was being heard and understood by every single woman in the room.

"...well that would be my pleasure," he finished his sentence with a sadistic grin on his face.

_ Jesus Christ, this guy is nuts. _

He threw Red onto the ground and yelled out, "Get to work!"

There were protests from every part of the room, screaming at him. One white girl with wild blonde hair stood up and exclaimed, "Hey, what the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Stay out of this, inmate."

A stomping sound came from the table. Everyone looked up to see Blanca, staring at Piscatella with nothing but rage in her eyes.

A few moments passed, and Chapman stood up on the table she was sitting at, mirroring Blanca's actions.

A couple of other inmates stood up, as well. Voices shouted words she couldn't understand with all of the stomping and slamming of trays on the floor.

"Yeah, come on!"

"Man, fuck this!"

"Let's go!"

She took Maritza's hand and stepped up onto the table along with everyone else. 

"What are you doing?"

"Please, just trust me."

Maritza looked at her with sympathy. She knew how much her experience with Humps had impacted not just her, but Flaca too. She nodded and stood up on the table with her.

Soon, everyone was either standing on a table or a seat.

All of the guards looked at them with horror. All of them except Piscatella. He just glared at them with absolute disgust in his eyes. In a swift motion, he reached up to his walkie with his hand and pressed a button.

"We need backup in the cafeteria. Send all the men we have."

**... **

It all happened so fast. One second, she was being pulled off the table, the next she heard screaming coming from her left, next she was behind a guard's arms next to Maritza, watching a girl cry next to another girl who she assumed was dead.

She wasn't clear on what went down that night in the cafeteria, but she knew it was big.

Flaca spent the night in her bunk, huddled up next to Maritza, discussing what had just happened.

"It was so surreal, y'know? I mean, I didn't even see what happened, but it felt like it wasn't even real. And, god, Flac, I just felt so horrible about it. Like, I was responsible for what happened to her. If we had just filed the report a little bit sooner-"

"No, none of this is your fault. Sure, it was horrible what happened, but you couldn't've done nothing to stop it."

Maritza sighed. She'd been crying about this for the last couple of hours that they were locked in the dorms. Flaca understood why she felt kind of responsible for the girl's death. She'd been working so hard to make sure that nothing else happened to another inmate at the hands of a guard, and she was forced to watch it happen right in front of her.

In a way, Flaca felt responsible, too. 

If she hadn't been so reckless and didn't get sent to Seg, she could've helped Maritza file the report against Humps.

The next day she spent most of in her bed, thinking about the events that occurred the night before.

She thought about herself being in Taystee's shoes. Losing her best friend would've been something she'd never come back from, especially in a place like this.

She loved Maritza too much to lose her just like that.

_ Hold up,  _ **_ love _ ** _? _

She jumped up from her bed.

_ Do I love Maritza? _

Of course, she loved Maritza. She was her best friend. But, did she love her maybe...more than that?

In an instant, she stormed out of the dorms, looking for the other girl. She went to multiple other women, asking if they knew where she was. Most of them said no, but one said that they heard her gushing about Humps getting fired today.

_ She must've gotten called out for van duty to take him away. _

Flaca rushed to the main hallway, hoping Maritza was there, walking to the front yard to drive Humps off the property.

She got to the hallway and saw Maritza, walking beside Humps who had a box full of stuff in his hands.

"Mari, I need to tell you something really important!"

"Step away, inmate."

She looked at him with anger. Did he really think he still had authority over her?

"You're not a CO anymore. You don't tell me what to do."

"No, but I do," a female voice said from behind her.

She turned around and saw another CO. McCullough, maybe.

"I was just-"

"I don't care, you need to go back to your dorm right now or else-"

She was interrupted by loud yelling coming from all directions in the hallway. Flaca looked around and saw a bunch of other women, storming up to the guards looking furious.

She took Maritza's hand, not wanting to let her get lost in the humongous crowd.

Humps leaned down and rolled up the cuff of his jeans to reveal a gun strapped to his ankle.

Maritza saw it first and pushed him onto the floor, causing him to trip and let go of the firearm.

She heard gasps coming from all sides of the room now and looked up to see what it was about.

There, she saw Daya, holding the gun in her hand, looking at it with an unreadable expression.

Her grip on Maritza's hand tightened as she backed away from the two guards.

_ Holy shit. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here, this fic comes to an end. i may make a sequel for this based on the events that happened at the end of season 5 and the beginning of season 7 (ice storyline), but it'll be a bit before i do. thank you to everyone who took the time to read this fic and not just disregard it the first time they saw it. i love you all ❤❤❤


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